George Yancy


George Dewey Yancy is an American philosopher who is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy at Emory University. He is a distinguished Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, one of the college's highest honors. In 2019–20, he was the University of Pennsylvania's Inaugural Provost's Distinguished Visiting Faculty Fellow. He is the editor of the book series "Philosophy of Race" at Bloomsbury Publishing. He is known for his work in critical whiteness studies, critical philosophy of race, critical phenomenology, and African American philosophy, and has written, edited, or co-edited more than 20 books. In his capacity as an academic scholar and a public intellectual, he has published over 250 combined scholarly articles, chapters, and interviews that have appeared in professional journals, books, and at various news sites.
Yancy has authored numerous essays and conducted interviews at both The New York Times philosophy column "The Stone," and at Truthout, which is "a nonprofit news organization dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social justice issues." Additionally, he has published at CounterPunch, The Guardian, Inside Higher Ed, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. At "Academic Influence," Yancy has been called one of the top 10 influential philosophers in the decade spanning 2010–2020, due in part to the number of citations and web presence. Yancy was also the winner of the 2024 Public Philosophy Network's Leadership Award. The Award recognizes the long-term and substantive contributions of philosophers to public philosophy. As of 2025, Yancy is the founder of "Candid Conversations with George Yancy." The inaugural event consisted of an exciting, engaging, and philosophically fecund and robust conversation with philosophers Cornel West and Judith Butler on October 29, 2025.
WWW georgeyancy.com

Education and career

Yancy received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh cum laude in 1985, his M.A. in philosophy from Yale University in 1987, his M.A. in Africana studies from New York University in 2004, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Duquesne University with distinction in 2005. He began teaching at Duquesne in 2005, progressing from assistant professor to full professor in eight years, 2005–2013. After teaching at Duquesne for ten years, he moved to teach philosophy at Emory University in 2015.
As an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, Yancy wrote his undergraduate honors thesis on Bertrand Russell's Sense Data theory. His honors thesis was directed by American philosopher and epistemologist Wilfrid Sellars. Also at Pitt, he studied Kant under Nicholas Rescher, studied with Adolf Grunbaum on Freud's theory of religion, studied Martin Heidegger under John Haugeland, and took a graduate seminar on Plato taught by Mary Louise Gill, and modern philosophy under Annette Baier. Yancy also took a course entitled Human Nature taught by prominent political theorist John W. Chapman, which explored questions of human nature from Plato to Marx, Sartre, Freud and Skinner. While at Yale University, he took graduate seminars with eminent philosophers such as John Edwin Smith, Maurice Natanson, Rulon Wells, and others. While at New York University, Yancy took a seminar on democracy with political and economic theorist Leonard Wantchekon, a Black history course with historian Robert Hinton, and a seminar with poet Kamau Brathwaite in which Yancy was exposed to surrealism, magical realism, and radical decolonial ways to rethink W. Shakespeare's The Tempest. The Consortium that existed between NYU and Columbia University allowed Yancy to enroll in a seminar on Gender and the Diaspora taught by cultural anthropologist Donna Daniels at Columbia University. Yancy also wrote his MA thesis under the direction of Columbia University's comparative literary theorist Farah Griffin. While at Duquesne University, Yancy wrote his dissertation on race and embodiment under philosopher Fred Evans.

Media appearances

Yancy has been interviewed on various radio stations throughout the U.S. He has also appeared in three documentaries, the six-episode series Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story, Lillian Smith: Breaking the Silence, and interviewed for and appeared in the Netflix documentary, Power, by Oscar nominated American film producer, Yance Ford, on policing in America.

"Dear White America"

In 2015 Yancy published an article in the New York Times' philosophy column, The Stone, entitled "Dear White America". The article generated considerable controversy, resulting in him receiving large amounts of hate mail and harassment. This experience later helped convince the American Philosophical Association to issue a statement denouncing bullying and harassment. It also resulted in Yancy being added to the Professor Watchlist, a website which purports to document anti-conservative college professors, in 2016. He received over 1,000 messages of support. 68 philosophers and intellectuals signed a letter in his defense, supporting his freedom and the freedom of others to engage in philosophical discussions regarding major social and political issues. In response to being placed on the Professor Watchlist, Yancy wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times entitled "I am a Dangerous Professor."

Works

Books

The Innocence is the Crime: On the Freedom to Think Otherwise. Introduction and all interviews conducted by George Yancy. . Facing James Baldwin's Question of the Ni**er: The Need for White Courage and the Reality of Black Frustration. Edited by George Yancy and Timothy Golden. Separate introductions by George Yancy and Timothy Golden..Open Casket: Philosophical Meditations on the Lynching of Emmett Till. Edited by George Yancy and A. Todd Franklin. Separate introductions by George Yancy and A. Todd Franklin..Black Bodies, White Gazes, The Continuing Significance of Race in America..In Sheep's Clothing: The Idolatry of White Christian Nationalism. Edited by George Yancy and Bill Bywater. Separate introductions by George Yancy and Bill Bywater; Foreword by J. Kameron Carter..Until Our Lungs Give Out: Conversations on Race, Justice, and the Future.. Winner, Best Book, Library Journal, 2023, and Winner of a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2024.Black Men from Behind the Veil: Ontological Interrogations. Edited and introduction by George Yancy. Selected as a "Top 75 Community College Title" by Choice, under Social & Behavioral Sciences, November 2022.Across Black Spaces: Essays and Interviews from an American Philosopher. Buddhism and Whiteness: Critical Reflections. Co-edited and Introductory comments with Emily McRae Educating For Critical Consciousness. Edited with Introduction by George Yancy Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America. On Race: 34 Conversations in a Time of Crisis. Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race in America, Second Edition. Foreword by Linda Alcoff. Our Black Sons Matter: Mothers Talk about Fears, Sorrows, and Hopes. Co-edited with Maria del Guadalupe Davidson and Susan Hadley. Introduction by George Yancy. Afterword by Farah Jasmine Griffin.. This book was a STARRED Review and was also selected as the Booklist Top 10 List of the Best Diverse Nonfiction Titles in 2017.White Self-Criticality beyond Anti-Racism: How Does It Feel to Be a White Problem? Edited with introduction by George Yancy. Exploring Race in Predominantly White Classrooms: Scholars of Color Reflect.. Co-edited with Maria Del Guadalupe Davidson. Co-authored Introduction and additional submission of chapter. Pursuing Trayvon Martin: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Manifestations of Racial Dynamics. Co-edited and co-authored Introduction with Janine Jones and additional submission of chapter.. The first paperback edition of this book was published in 2014 along with a new preface written by the editors.Look, A White! Philosophical Essays on Whiteness. Foreword by Naomi Zack. Christology and Whiteness: What Would Jesus Do? Edited with Introduction by George Yancy. Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy. Therapeutic Uses of Rap and Hip-Hop. Co-edited and co-authored Introduction with Susan Hadley. The Center Must Not Hold: White Women Philosophers on the Whiteness of Philosophy. Foreword by Sandra Harding. Edited with Introduction by George Yancy.. The Center Must Not Hold: White Women Philosophers on the Whiteness of Philosophy was reprinted in paperback edition in 2011. Critical Perspectives on bell hooks. Co-edited with Maria Del Guadalupe Davidson. Co-authored Introduction and additional submission of chapter. Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race. Foreword by Linda Alcoff.. Received Honorable Mention from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights.Philosophy in Multiple Voices. Edited with Introduction by George Yancy.. Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award for 2009. Narrative Identities: Psychologists Engaged in Self-Construction. Co-edited with Susan Hadley. Preface by Yancy and Hadley. White on White/Black on Black. Foreword by Cornel West. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy.. Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award for 2005.What White Looks Like: African American Philosophers on the Whiteness Question. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy. The Philosophical I: Personal Reflections on Life in Philosophy. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy. Cornel West: A Critical Reader. Afterword by Cornel West. Edited with Introduction and chapter by George Yancy. African-American Philosophers: 17 Conversations. Edited with Introduction, and all interviews conducted by George Yancy.. Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award for 1999.

''The New York Times'' and ''Truthout'' articles and interviews conducted by Yancy

  • "I am on Kirk's 'Professor Watchlist.' I know How it Destroys Civil Debate," September 27, 2025.
  • , "We Can't Let White Nationalism Dictate What Is Taught and Learned in Classrooms," September 18, 2025.
  • , "Trump's Education Plan Seeks to Make Cruel Domination Into 'Comon Sense.," September 13, 2025.
  • , "Authoritarian Wave in US Shows Democracy's Fragility, South African Scholar Says," September 6, 2025.
  • "Peter Hegseth Has Banned 3 of My Books From the US Naval Academy," May 18, 2025.
  • , "'Striking Hard at Civilians': A Supremacist Ideology Underlies Israeli Policy." March 24, 2025.
  • , "How Should We Rethink Our Relationship to US Violence Around the World?" March 18, 2025.
  • , "Black History Testifies to the Impossible Creative Power of Black Resistance." February 23, 2025.
  • , "Frederick Douglass’s Words Ring True: 'Power Concedes Nothing Without a Demand.'” February 15, 2025.
  • , "Remember What Audre Lorde Told Us: The Oppressor Doesn't Determine What's True." February 8, 2025.
  • , "Why the Right IS Wrong About Critical Race Theory." February 1, 2025.
  • , "Cornel West: We Must Keep Our Souls Intact as We Organize Under Trump Again." December 1, 2024.
  • , "Abolition Work Shows US There's Joy to Be Found Even as the Word Is on Fire." November 19, 2024.
  • , "How Does Israel Justify Mass Killings? It Starts in the Schools." September 15, 2024.
  • , "What Can the Black Freedom Struggle and Palestinian Liberation Teach Each Other?" September 8, 2024.
  • , "The Violent 'Othering' of Palestinians Has Political Roots." September 1, 2024.
  • , "Kant's Ideas Shaped Human Rights Theories. How do we Content with His Racism?" July 6, 2024.
  • , "Juneteenth Reminds US That 'Black Freedom' Is an Ongoing Project." June 19, 2024.
  • , "Palestinian Graduate: Protestors Show Courage for Gaza as leaders Show Cowardice." June 9, 2024.
  • , "Universities Have Failed Their Democratic Mission by Repressing Gaza Protests." May 10, 2024.
  • , "This Black History Month, Let's Recognize the Vitality of Black Feminist Thought." February 27, 2024.
  • , “Honoring Emmett Till Means Never Looking Away From the Horror of White Supremacy.” February 26, 2024.
  • , "What is it About Black History that Frightens the Hell Out of the Far Right?" February 24, 2024.
  • , "Black Existentialism Brings Philosophy to Bear on Our White Supremacist World." February 21, 2024.
  • , "What Can Deaf Philosophy Teach the World and How Will it Change it?" February 11, 2024.
  • , "MLK Was a Philosopher of Hope. He Reminds US That Apathy Is a Dead End." January 15, 2024.
  • , "How Can Philosophy Speak to a World in Crisis? The Answer May Lie in Our Bodies." January 7, 2024.
  • , "Clinging to Whiteness Offers False Safety: True Liberation Requires Unending It." December 25, 2023.
  • , "What Would Malcolm X Say About Gaza and Black resistance in the US Today?" December 23, 2023.
  • , "Judith Butler: Palestinians Are Not Being 'Regarded as People' by Israel and US." October 31, 2023.
  • , "Dorothy Roberts Lays Out a Damning Expose of Medical Racism and 'Child Welfare.'" September 17, 2023.
  • , "White Supremacy and 'White Innocence' Were Behind the Killings in Jacksonville." September 8, 2023.
  • , "Institutions Often Treat Disability and Mental Health Not With Care But Violence." June 15, 2023.
  • , "How Can We Resist Book Bans? This Banned Author Has Ideas." May 18, 2023.
  • , "Jordan Neely Is Being Blamed for His Own Death Due to Sanism and Racism." May 5, 2023w.
  • , "Let's Confront Ideas of 'Normality' -- They Are Rooted in Racism and Ableism." April 11, 2023.
  • , "Policing Does Not Have Problems -- It is the Problem." April 8, 2023.
  • , "Incarceration and Ableism Go Hand in Hand, Says Abolitionist Talila Lewis." January 8, 2023.
  • , "Ableism Enables All Forms of Inequity and Hampers All Liberation Efforts." January 3, 2023.
  • "Let's Honor Kevin Johnson by Dismantling the Systems that Failed Him," December 3, 2022.
  • , "The 'Problem' Isn't Disabled Bodies, It's the Violent Structure of Our Society." October 11, 2022.
  • , "Ableism Organizes Most Social Life. How Do We Dismantle It?" September 25, 2022.
  • , "Afropessimism Forces US to Rethink Our Most Basic Assumptions About Society," September 14, 2022.
  • "Innocent White People Are Also Complicit in the Anti-Black Murders in Buffalo," May 17, 2022.
  • . "Robin Kelley: White Indifference Is Normalizing Spectacular Acts of Violence," May 5, 2022.
  • "If the State of the World Makes You Want to Scream, You're Not Alone," April 11, 2022.
  • , "Anti-Black Racism IS Global. So Must Be the Movement to End It," March 14, 2022.
  • "Death Surrounds US: We Cannot Ignore Its Reality, or Its Mystery," February 5, 2022.
  • "Death Is for the Living.". Tuesday, January 4, 2022, A16.
  • "What I learned About Death From 7 Religious Scholars, 1 Atheist and My Father," January 2, 2022.
  • "bell hooks, We Will Always Rage On With You," December 21, 2021.
  • "George Floyd Isn't in the Headlines, But Trauma Continues for Black Men Like Me," November 9, 2021.
  • "No, Black People Can't Be 'Racist,'" October 20, 2021.
  • . "Christianity IS Empty If It Doesn't Address the Racist Carceral State," September 26, 2021.
  • . "US Founders Demonized Indigenous People While Coopting Their Political Practices," August 15, 2021.
  • . "Black Feminist 'Back Talk' Anchors Resistance on Both Sides of the Atlantic," July 17, 2021.
  • . "Black Womanist Theology Offers Hope in the Face of White Supremacy," June 19, 2021.
  • . "The Tulsa Race Massacre Went Way Beyond "Black Wall Street"", June 1, 2021.
  • . "It's Time for 'Whiteness as Usual' to End: How do we overcome the death wish of white supremacy?", May 23, 2021.
  • . "Chomsky: Big Pharma Cares More About Profiting From COVID Than Human Survival", May 10, 2021.
  • . "Chomsky: Protests Unleashed by Murder of George Floyd Exceed All in US History", May 7, 2021.
  • "Being 'Anti-Racist' Isn't Enough. The Violence of Whiteness Itself Must Be Exposed", April 5, 2021.
  • . "'I Can't Breathe' Is a Cry Well Known to Black Indigenous People in Australia", March 24, 2021.
  • . "White Supremacist Christianity Drives Trump's Loyal Mob. We Must Scream It Down", March 12, 2021.
  • . "Cornel West: The Whiteness of Harvard and Wall Street IS 'Jim Crow, New Style'", March 5, 2021.
  • . "White Journalists' Use of the N-Word IS an Intolerable Assault on Black Freedom", February 27, 2021.
  • . "Death Has Many Names", February 14, 2021.
  • . "The Capitol Siege Was White Supremacy in Action. Trial Evidence Confirms that", February 13, 2021.
  • . "Education Will Be Critical in the Fight for Democracy and Anti-Racism", February 5, 2021.
  • . "Reaching Beyond 'Black Faces in High Places' : An Interview with Joy James", February 1, 2021.
  • "Let's Not Lose Ourselves in Euphoria Over Trump's Exit. Anti-Blackness Persists", January 25, 2021.
  • . "We Have to Let White Supremacy Die in Order to Truly Live", January 17, 2021.
  • . "Capitol Mob Reveals Ongoing Refusal to Accept Black Votes as Legitimate", January 12, 2021.
  • , "Black Trans Feminist Thought Can Set Us Free", December 9, 2020.
  • . "Of Death and Consequences", December 8, 2020.
  • . "Trump Is Attacking Critical Race Theory Because it is a Force for Liberation", November 18, 2020.
  • . "Trump's Lying About COVD Amounts to Treason", November 1, 2020.
  • . "Founded on Inequality, Can the US Ever Be Truly Democratic and Inclusive?" October 31, 2020.
  • . "How Should an Atheist Think About Death?", October 20, 2020.
  • . "How to Die ", September 16, 2020.
  • . "Don't Fear Dying. Fear Violence", July 29, 2020.
  • . "George Yancy: To Be Black in the US is to Have a Knee Against Your Neck Each Day", July 18, 2020.
  • . "Confronting Prejudice Isn't Enough. We Must Eradicate the White Racial Frame", June 30, 2020.
  • . "Policing Is Doing What It Was Meant To Do. That's the Problem", June 21, 2020.
  • . "Noam Chomsky: Trump Has Adopted a 'Viva Death!' Approach to the Presidency", June 5, 2020.
  • . "I believe that I Would See Her Again", May 20, 2020.
  • "Ahmaud Arbery and the Ghosts of Lynchings Past", May 12, 2020.
  • . "Judith Butler: Mourning Is a Political Act Amid the Pandemic and Its Disparities", April 30, 2020.
  • . "What Judaism Teaches Us About the Fear of Death", March 26, 2020.
  • . "How Does a Buddhist Monk Face Death?", February 26, 2020.
  • "Facing the Fact of My Death", February 3, 2020.
  • "Dear God, Are You There?", August 7, 2019.
  • . "When Killing Women Isn't a Crime", July 10, 2019.
  • . "Power Is Everywhere, but Love Is Supreme", May 29, 2019.
  • "Why White People Need Blackface", March 4, 2019.
  • "#IAm Sexist", October 24, 2018.
  • . "The Pain and Promise of Black Women in Philosophy", June 18, 2018.
  • "Should I Give Up on White People?", April 16, 2018.
  • "James Bond is a Wimp", February 26, 2018.
  • "Will America Choose King's Dream or Trump's Nightmare?", January 15, 2018.
  • . "An Open Letter of Love to Kim Jong-un", November 13, 2017.
  • "On Trump and the State Of the Union", July 5, 2017.
  • "Is Your God Dead?", June 19, 2017.
  • "It's Black History Month. Look in the Mirror", February 9, 2017.
  • "I am a Dangerous Professor", November 30, 2016
  • "The Perils of being a Black Philosopher", April 18, 2016.
  • "Dear White America", December 24, 2015.
  • "Buddhism, the Beats and Loving Blackness", December 10, 2015.
  • "Whom Does Philosophy Speak?", October 9, 2015.
  • "The Invisible Asian", October 8, 2015.
  • "What 'Black Lives' Means in Britain", October 1, 2015.
  • "Cornel West: The Fire of a New Generation", August 19, 2015.
  • "American Racism in the 'White Frame'", July 27, 2015.
  • "Looking 'White' in the Face", July 2, 2015.
  • "Peter Singer: On Racism, Animal Rights and Human Rights", May 27, 2015.
  • "Molefi Kete Asante: Why Afrocentricity?", April 6, 2015.
  • . "Kwame Anthony Appiah: The Complexities of Black Folk", April 16, 2015.
  • "Asian, American, Woman, Philosopher", April 6, 2015.
  • "Noam Chomsky on the Roots of American Racism", March 18, 2015.
  • . "How Liberalism and Racism are Wed", February 27, 2015.
  • , "Philosophy's Lost Body and Soul", February 4, 2015.
  • . "What's Wrong With 'All Lives Matter?'", January 12, 2015.
  • . "Black Lives: Between Grief and Action", December 22, 2014.
  • . "White Anxiety and the Futility of Black Hope", December 5, 2014.
  • , November 16, 2014.
  • . "What 'White Privilege' really means", November 5, 2014.
  • "Walking While Black in the White Gaze'", September 1, 2013.